Shuttle to airport popular with riders

The shuttle from Metro light rail to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport apparently is catching on with travelers and people who work in and around the airport.

The airport initially expected that a daily average of 600 to 700 people would use the new transit connection from the train stop at 44th and Washington streets in Phoenix. But with Metro service not even a month old, Sky Harbor says the average is 850 people a day.

"It shows that there is a need there and even more people are using it than we thought would," Sky Harbor spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher said.

Metro decided not to run tracks directly to the airport for a couple of reasons. Planners said the airport stretch would have had to be set up as a subway to avoid traffic conflicts. That would have been expensive: roughly the same as the $1.4 billion spent on the entire 20-mile Metro line that connects Phoenix, Tempe and Mesa. Planners also said passengers would be aggravated by extra stops at the airport.

Instead, passengers can pick up a free airport-shuttle bus on the southern side of Washington. The buses have wide doors and racks for luggage.

Four buses serve the rail stop and the airport's three terminals. Buses are scheduled to run every 10 minutes when Metro is operating.

Alex Wihak of Calgary, Alberta, said he had no problem finding the shuttle pickup at the airport Tuesday morning. He said he was in town for business and staying with family in the East Valley. They planned to pick him up at the Mesa end of the Metro line.

An automated people mover eventually will connect the airport and the rail station. It's scheduled to open in 2013, with service to Terminal 4, which handles 75 percent of the airport's passengers. It is expected to be finished to the other terminals and the car-rental center by 2020.

Ostreicher said there wasn't a breakdown of how many employees were taking the train and the shuttle to work compared to travelers headed to planes.

Jin-Young Kim of Pusan, South Korea, transfers from a Metro light-rail car to a shuttle bus that will take her to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. The shuttle service runs from Washington and 44th streets in Phoenix to the airport.